Shinya Aoki, Melvin Manhoef and Paulo Filho among DREAM.10 additions

During today’s DREAM.9 event, the Japanese-based organization announced some additions to its upcoming July 20 DREAM.10 card.

Participants include Shinya Aoki, who will not face Joachim Hansen as originally planned, and former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho, who returns to the cage for the first time since a bizarre non-title loss to Chael Sonnen in late 2008.

DREAM.10 takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The event, which also features the semifinals and finale of the organization’s 2009 welterweight grand prix, airs in North America on HDNet.

Aoki (20-4), who was knocked out of the grand prix with a 27-second loss to Hayato Sakurai at DREAM.8, was expected to challenge for Hansen’s lightweight title in July. However, DREAM instead confirmed he’ll fight jiu-jitsu ace Vitor Ribeiro (20-2), who’s 10-1 in his past 11 fights. He most recently defeated Katsuhiko Nagata via first-round TKO at DREAM.8.

Meanwhile, Filho (16-1), once considered the world’s top middleweight fighter, will look to rebound from two lackluster fights with Sonnen in the WEC. Filho narrowly won their first meeting in December 2007, and after failing miserably to make weight in their second match-up a year later, he suffered a unanimous-decision loss in the second meeting.

Filho, who sought treatment for depression and chemical dependency between the two fights, will take on on a tough Melvin Manhoef (23-5-1), who’s 6-1 (with six knockouts) in his past seven fights.

Meanwhile, DREAM also announced a lightweight bout between Katsunori Kikuno (11-1-1), a DEEP vet who puts an eight-fight winning streak on the line in his DREAM debut, vs. Andre Amade (6-3-1), who hasn’t fought since March 2008 following back-to-back losses to Gesias Cavalcante and Eddie Alvarez.